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O P I N I O N
Kevin Brown mentors students through the ACE Mentor Program of Greater Philadelphia.
Outreach and mentorship
O ne of the most enjoyable and rewarding things in my life has been my time as a mentor. Outside of my parents and late grandmother, I never had a mentor who I felt I could reach out to until I entered the workforce. Mentors open pathways for others, and outreach is key to achieving firms’ diversity and inclusion goals.
In his song “Evolution,” one of my favorite hip hop artists, Joyner Lucas, said, “I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m learning as I’m growing.” This lyric really speaks to me. Throughout high school and college – and even at some points during my career – I felt like I did not have a goal, but as I progressed through life, I was constantly learning. I am continuing to learn to this day. My own track in life has led me to see the importance in mentoring younger people. I believe that the youth are going to run into their own challenges, so why not provide insight using my own experience so they can easily maneuver through those issues while tackling new ones? In my mind, I should be trying to be the person for them that I needed at that point in my life. I believe outreach and mentorship are key when we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion
in the AEC industry. Over the past few years – and especially after 2020 – I have noticed companies and organizations placing an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion through mandatory trainings; new hiring and promotion requirements; and developing or updating their diversity statements. I applaud all of that, but how do we truly achieve diversity and inclusion within our organizations when our industry itself is not diverse? How do we diversify our industry? I think we have to understand some of the reasons why our industry is not diverse, and then do some outreach and mentoring to open pathways for others. If we think about our nation’s history and how Black people were at a disadvantage because of slavery and segregation, and then again because
Kevin Brown
See KEVIN BROWN, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 14, 2021, ISSUE 1396
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